Army units that deploy starting next month should enjoy two years of dwell time when they come home. That’s the Army’s plan for its war-weary troops even as it transitions from 12-month deployments to nine-month tours, a senior Army planner said.

“If you’re a deploying unit for this coming quarter, when you return, can we tell you you’re on a two-year dwell cycle? The answer is yes for most Army units,” said Col. John Hort, a senior planner at Forces Command. “Our goal is to be able to provide a unit two years of dwell minimum when they return.

In addition to longer dwell times, Army officials say they're also transitioning away from 12-month deployments to nine-month deployments in fiscal 2012. Also welcome news to those who once experienced 15-month tours.

The changes are dependent on continued troop draw downs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It’s been a long time coming. The deployment rotations took a heavy toll on the morale of the troops and family members who made great personal, financial and emotional sacrifices to support their loved ones and the mission. The long separations often hurt marriages and caused great pain for deployed parents who missed birthdays and ballgames, graduations and anniversaries, and all those moments when it means so much to just be there.

Back home, the deployments in many cases contributed to an epidemic suicide rate among soldiers. Moreover, a Military Times investigation reveals, the number of military children killed through abuse and neglect doubled from 2003 to 2008, an increase “very clearly tied to specific events of the large-scale deployments,” said researcher Deborah Gibbs, who has studied child abuse under a Defense Department contract.